Alimony & Spousal Support Payments in Florida- The Definitive Guide

Alimony support payments impact your ability to pay your monthly bills. For most divorce causes an increase in the cost of living because the parties need to support two households instead of one.

The alimony amount ordered in your case will make a big difference to your monthly bottom line. Often for years.  

Below we have put together a resource that answers all of your alimony in Florida questions.  What’s more, you will find significant “how to’s” to make sure you and your divorce counsel get the best possible result.

How the Amount of Alimony Is Decided

Most likely you and your spouse determine alimony payments by agreement.  Otherwise, a Judge will determine alimony for you. In both cases, the Florida statute provides a framework for deciding alimony.

First, alimony is appropriate if one party needs alimony and the other party is able to pay support.

If so, then the court will look at a variety of factors to determine an appropriate alimony amount

If one party needs alimony and the other party can pay support then the court must go through a list of factors to determine the right spousal support number.

Learn everything you need to know about how alimony is decided here.

Start by reading about how to win your  alimony case in Florida. Then check out our alimony calculator that can give you a rough estimate of the range of alimony you should expect to pay or recieve in your case.

If You Expect to Pay Alimony

If you expect to pay alimony we specific “how to” articles tailored for you.

• How to Minimize Or Get Out of Paying Alimony:  Every dollar saved in alimony is a dollar you keep. We go through specific tactics during your divorce case to help you keep as much of your hard earned money as possible after your divorce.
• How to Short the Length of Time You Pay Alimony: Equally important as reducing your monthly alimony payment is reducing the length of time you pay alimony.  We go over specific techniques in your negotiations and in your trial presentation to reduce the time you pay alimony.
• How to Reduce or Terminate Alimony After My Divorce Is Over: Situations change after the divorce is finalized. If you’re making less money, your ex is making more money, or your ex is shacking up with another person you may want to reduce or terminate your alimony payments. We show you how to do that here.
• How to Prove Your Spouse Should Be Supporting Himself/ Herself:  Your spouse refuses to work. We discuss building your case that the Court should impute a wage on your spouse.

If You Expect to Receive Alimony

If you expect to receive alimony we have specific “how to” articles for you too:

• How to Maximize Your Alimony Award:  After the divorce, you’ll have your own household to run. Every dollar you receive in alimony matters. We teach you how to build your case to maximize your alimony award.
• How to Collect When Your Ex Won’t Pay: The sad truth is that some ex-spouses will refuse to pay alimony after the ink has dried on the divorce. We take you through step by step on how to collect alimony when your ex-refuses to pay.
• How to Buy Out Alimony:  Sometimes there are enough assets in the marital pie that you can take more of the assets in exchange for alimony. We teach you how to figure out a fair spousal support buyout.

How Long Does Alimony Last

The monthly alimony payment is only half of the equation. How long will the alimony payment last? Is it months? Years? Forever? We take you through the determination of how long alimony payments last here.

Of course, sometimes things change after the divorce. What if you find a new love and get married? Live together in the same house? We’ve outlined everything you need to know about future relationships and your alimony award here.

What Are the Types of Alimony?

No doubt your lawyer will start throwing around different “types” of alimony. Durational? Permanent periodic? Lump-sum. What does it all mean? We break down every type of alimony in Florida for you so you know exactly what the lawyers and Judges are talking about.

Taxes and Alimony

Alimony and taxes.  Traditionally alimony has been tax deductible to the paying spouse and treated as taxable income to the former Wife. This allowed for some “win-win” alimony scenarios. But alas, the law is changing in 2019.  Read all about alimony and taxes here.

Alimony FAQ’s

Sometimes you just have a quick alimony question and need a quick alimony answer. No problem we have you covered with our exhaustive alimony FAQ.